Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?

Steeran pulled out her weapon, a Wolf Fang Club as long as her forearm.

She had strategized well; monsters like Stone Statue Ghosts have high resistance to slashes, stabs, and cleaves, but are weak to blunt force. A hammer, for instance, could easily break their defenses.

Nothing to fear now!

At that moment, she saw Gong Qiying leisurely draw out a Big Shield and a Riding Spear, seemingly opting to use just these two weapons.

"Uh," Steeran hesitated before asking, "Don't Stone Statue Ghosts have resistance to spears? Won't the Riding Spear's damage be insufficient?"

"Damage isn't enough, but who says I need to cause damage?"

"Without damage, you can't hurt Monsters," she argued.

Gong Qiying smiled enigmatically, "Just watch my performance, and don't interfere."

He was quite the suspenser, and darn it, Steeran was totally hooked!

Entering the fortress, she obediently stayed near the entrance without venturing deeper, so the Stone Statue Ghosts would target Gong Qiying first.

"I have to see how you're going to fight."

Steeran still felt a bit defiant. What is most important in fighting Monsters throughout history? Every adventurer would answer: Damage!

Without sufficient damage, every attack on a Monster is just scratching an itch!

Today's consensus among adventurers is to prioritize heavy damage and belittle technique—forget about defense.

Even the Sword Shield Warrior Huynh mostly attacks by bashing with a Shield, seldom focusing on defense.

So when Gong Qiying took out a heavy Big Shield, Steeran was puzzled; wielding a Big Shield seemed too cumbersome for combat, not to mention it could slow agility. From any angle, it didn't seem cost-effective.

"Roar roar roar!"

While hearing the Stone Statue Ghost's roar, Gong Qiying threw a Flying Knife at the Monster on the ceiling, successfully drawing its aggro as it spread its wings, ready to charge!

"Get out of the way," Steeran muttered to herself.

But Gong Qiying didn't move.

He stood his ground, merely raising the Big Shield, foolishly waiting for the Stone Statue Ghost's onslaught as if petrified!

"Bang—"

The Stone Statue Ghost's colossal claw slammed into the Big Shield; Gong Qiying's body trembled, but his stance didn't falter! The Big Shield impeccably absorbed the hit!

She thought now he would finally dodge. Steeran watched intently, as dodging now would have allowed him to counterattack the Stone Statue Ghost—a highly profitable move.

However—

"I stab,"

Tucked behind the Big Shield, Gong Qiying poked the Stone Statue Ghost.

"???"

Exclamation marks appeared above Steeran's head; the attack was feeble, barely scratching the Stone Statue Ghost!

No wonder Gong Qiying was evading Monsters on the way; it turned out he didn't have the raw power to dominate!

"I'll go then!" Steeran called out.

"No need, just stay there,"

Gong Qiying kept jabbing the Stone Statue Ghost, which was momentarily stunned, likely encountering such a light attack for the first time in its existence.

But then, the Monster was enraged, its attacks raining down like a fierce storm, swearing to smash this weak human!

Something miraculous happened.

Despite the ferocious assault, the Big Shield proved superior, taking all of the Stone Statue Ghost's attacks.

"Roar—"

The Stone Statue Ghost roared in fury, spreading its arms to flip the Big Shield away, but Gong Qiying had anticipated the move, ducking and rolling away lightly.

Then he continued to hide and jab from behind the Big Shield.

If Stone Statue Ghosts could talk, it would have started cursing by now.

Jab jab jab, roll, then jab jab jab, roll again...

Before she knew it, Steeran was staring, slack-jawed, having never witnessed such a shameless fighting technique.

Even as the other Stone Statue Ghost charged in, both facing a barrage of attacks, the Big Shield didn't even budge,

As the saying goes, quantity changes lead to qualitative changes. Before long, the Stone Statue Ghost was beaten and battered, and Gong Qiying thrust his Riding Spear forward, piercing its head.

The same method took care of the other one.

"How's that," Gong Qiying planted the Riding Spear into the ground, boasting proudly, "What a thrilling battle,"

You didn't really fight a damn thing...

"Quite an eye-opener..." Steeran didn't know what to say, her expression was quite something, after a long struggle she asked, "May I ask what kind of style is this?"

"Shield Stab style! An invincible style!"

Steeran opened her mouth but said nothing for a long time.

After defeating the Stone Statue Ghosts, Gong Qiying didn't disappear, but continued guiding her through Sick Village,

Encountering agile canine Monsters, solved with Shield Stab.

Encountering primate Monsters that threw weapons, solved with Shield Stab.

Even when unsure if Monsters were lurking around corners, still solved with Shield Stab.

Steeran was dumbfounded.

Seeing Gong Qiying using Shield Stab to handle a bunch of Monsters she thought were troublesome, she glanced at the Wolf Fang Club in her hand and cautiously asked:

"Are you still accepting disciples?"

Underneath the helmet, Gong Qiying revealed a bright smile:

"Want to learn, eh? I'll teach you,"

"Come, take my shield and weapon, and you lead the way. Yes, just like that, hold the shield up, see the Monsters ahead? Charge and take them down!"

Steeran recalled how Gong Qiying performed the Shield Stabs and began her attack on the Monster before her.

The Big Shield was heavy, but being an elite among adventurers, she could withstand the impact from large Monsters without letting go.

It was going well at first, but as the battle grew fiercer, her arms, holding the shield, started to tremble.

The Monster seized this chance and thrust forward fiercely!

Her shield was broken through!

"Argh,"

Steeran quickly pulled out the Wolf Fang Club and smashed the Monster's head.

"Why don't you get your shield broken?" she was full of questions now.

Gong Qiying waved his hands, chuckling, "Didn't you notice when I can't hold up, I choose to lower the shield to recover energy?"

"Boom—"

Like lightning striking her mind, Steeran had an epiphany!

Turns out Shield Stab wasn't something you could play around with casually; you need some technique!

Raise the shield when the enemy attacks, lower it to recover energy when they pause, and roll away to avoid when they try to flip the shield...

In just an hour or two, she felt like she learned something fresh that she couldn't in the past decade.

Most importantly, it was actually practical!

The only downside was insufficient damage.

But!

It might seem lacking if she did it alone, but what if two people, three people, or even ten people did it together?

Steeran envisioned in her mind the picture of her and ten companions surrounding Monsters with their Big Shields, their long and hard objects stabbing at the Monsters, all the while the Monsters' attacks were futile rage, helplessly watching as they were stabbed to death...

Her delicate body trembled with excitement, the mere thought of that scene was ecstatic!

Seeing Steeran's thrilled demeanor, Gong Qiying's smile grew even larger.

Celebrate, for a great Shield Stab player was born!

Steeran joyously led the way with her shield, immersed in the nearly rogue-like method of Shield Stab.

And Gong Qiying?

He silently pulled out a small sickle.